The tent is open. LA LA CIRCUS is out now, and at the centre of everything is Maribel, the Doll Queen.
This album started with disconnected ideas about a damaged doll, a circus fire and a room nobody should enter.
Somewhere along the way, those pieces became an entire fictional world.
LA LA CIRCUS is a concept album meant to be heard from beginning to end. Each track opens another part of the circus and adds something to Maribel’s story. You can listen to the songs individually, but hearing them in order shows how the characters, rooms and events are connected.
The title track opens the tent. From there, the listener enters places like the Violet Room, experiences the chaos of Gaslight and eventually reaches the darkest parts of Maribel’s past.
The circus is fictional, but the emotions inside it came from real places. At the heart of the album is abuse and how easily it can hide behind love, entertainment or somebody claiming they only want whats best for you.
Maribel grew up beneath the striped tent. The crowd saw costumes, lights and a little girl performing, but they didnt see the punishment waiting once the show ended.
Her mother gave her flowers and covered the bruises beneath her dress. Her father was part of the fear waiting behind the curtain.
The audience kept clapping because they only saw what the circus wanted them to see.
Maribel eventually takes control of the place that damaged her, but that doesnt make her a traditional hero. She carries what happened into the way she controls the performers and everybody who enters her tent.
She was hurt by the circus, then became the person pulling its strings.
Violet Room explores obsession being mistaken for love. The person telling the story believes controlling somebody and refusing to let them leave is romantic.
Violet Room II continues after that person escapes. Instead of accepting the damage they caused, the abuser sees the escape as betrayal. They still believe control was love and freedom was something done against them.
Gaslight is what happens when the circus loses control in public. Manipulation, addiction and insults become part of the performance while the people involved continue feeding the worst parts of each other.
The song Maribel returns to the Doll Queen, the abuse she survived and the fire beneath the tent. Parts of her ending remain unanswered, but one thing becomes clear.
The circus no longer controls Maribel. Maribel controls the circus.
Making the album was difficult because the ideas were much bigger than our budget. We used production software, virtual instruments, AI-assisted loops and a limited amount of voices involved with the project.
LA LA CIRCUS is about abuse, addiction, manipulation and what people hide behind a performance. It is about the crowd enjoying the show without understanding what it costs the person standing in the ring.
Listen to one song and you will see one part of the circus. Listen from beginning to end and you will hear how Maribel became the Doll Queen.
LA LA CIRCUS is out now. Enter the circus by following the link below.